Last Minute Stitching

While some people did their holiday stitching over the summer or even earlier, many aren't quite yet finished with those projects they were planning on completing to give as gifts.

This is around the time of year that requests for super bulky yarns and super fast projects start to filter in. It's also the time of year for emergency needle and hook purchases to replace lost or broken ones, frantic posts asking about how to fix mistakes or things that just didn't quite work out the way that someone had hoped, and even the queries of "how bad would it be to give someone something still on the needles?"

Okay. I admit it. That last one I seriously posed last year because I was annoyed with a friend of mine at the time and considered mailing him his unfinished present--needles and all--along with the pattern and instructions on how to finish it.

And, also seriously, I have actually gifted people pictures of what their project will eventually look like because I wasn't done yet.

I didn't say it was my best moment as a maker.

At any rate, we're in crunch time. Only a few days left if we are planning on giving certain items to people in person and perhaps a little overdue if we're planning on mailing their presents.

On the shop's YouTube channel, I've talked a lot about how to make sure we take breaks, stretch, and not overstress during this time of year, but I also know that such is much easier said than done because when that last minute adrenaline kicks in, you just gotta go with it, even if that means you're trying to finish up that ribbing that is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. and you've resorted to "it doesn't need to be blocked, really" or "I can just 'steam' it by hanging it up when I take my shower in the morning."

The bottom line is that we've all been there. Whether we're stitching for the holidays or birthdays or another special occasion, and we all know that feeling of not having enough hours in a day.

So, this week, all I'm going to say is that you aren't alone. And I hope that you get a little bit of time to relax and breathe before you have to wrap said project.